Brightspring Legacy Fund issued the following announcement on Oct. 4
Joe Biden speaks during the 2020 Gun Safety Forum in Las Vegas (Ethan Miller/Getty Images)Joe Biden is losing ground among likely Democratic voters. And now he’s being outraised by his primary opponents. The former vice president reported raising $15.2 million in the third quarter, which runs from July through September. Biden’s campaign said the haul “put the campaign in a strong position as we enter the fall,” but didn’t acknowledge that three other candidates raised much more over the same period.
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Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) led the pack during the most recent period, raising $25.3 million and $24.6 million respectively. South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg brought in $19.1 million, further cementing his status as a top-tier fundraiser. Many of the presidential contenders have not said how much cash they have in the bank, making it difficult to tell how well the candidates actually did until they file their numbers with the Federal Election Commission on Oct. 15. But Biden’s third-quarter haul represents a steep drop-off. Other candidates, particularly Warren, continue to build momentum. “The way I’m looking at it, Biden and Warren may be co-frontrunners right now, whereas a month ago Biden clearly was,” said Kyle Kondik, managing editor of Sabato’s Crystal Ball at the University of Virginia. Biden’s polling average has dropped to 26 percent, down from his peak of 41 percent, according to RealClearPolitics.
Warren has overtaken Biden in some Iowa polls, and a recent CNN poll found that far more Iowa residents are considering Warren (71 percent) than Biden (60 percent). Warren is also dangerously close in Nevada and New Hampshire. Warren has so far achieved her poll numbers without a major ad blitz, allowing her to roll out a $10 million ad campaign in early primary states. Biden announced a $6 million ad campaign of his own on Thursday. Sanders, sitting in third, also launched his first TV ads this week. Underlying numbers foreshadowed the former vice president’s disappointing fundraising total. A whopping 2,819 donors have already given the maximum $2,800 to Biden through the first half of 2019, accounting for a far higher percentage of funds than to any other candidate. Those donors who already gave the maximum contribution for the primary election can no longer help fund Biden’s bid for the nomination.
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What’s potentially more concerning is Biden’s lack of support from small donors. He collected just $8.3 million from these coveted donors through the first half of the year, fifth among the 2020 Democrats. Biden gets little small donor support despite spending millions of dollars on Facebook ads, the go-to method to find bite-sized contributions. After shelling out more than any other 2020 Democrat on digital ads to start his campaign, Biden has slowed down in recent months. Kondik said Biden is running as the safe, electable caretaker candidate, which may not inspire as much enthusiasm from supporters.
“Sometimes candidates who are the most ideological can inspire some of the strongest support,” he said. Joe Biden has become known this cycle for drawing much of his campaign cash from wealthy donors at big-dollar fundraisers. OpenSecrets found that Biden gets a large chunk of his cash from attorneys, physicians, CEOs and other donors in typically high-paying jobs. He doesn’t get much from those in working class jobs or donors who tend to be younger, unlike Sanders, the top fundraiser. Both Sanders and Warren got a head start by transferring more than $10 million from other federal accounts to their presidential campaigns. Buttigieg comes close to number two overall when excluding these transfers.
Despite their major fundraising hauls, Sanders is stagnating in the polls and Buttigieg isn’t gaining any more steam. Biden’s allies are reportedly considering launching a super PAC to defend the Delaware politician from Republican attacks and to help him stave off Warren’s rise in the polls. Biden, like most candidates in the Democratic field, has said he would reject support from a super PAC. As these groups are supposed to be independent of campaigns, Biden would not be able to stop wealthy supporters from spending millions to back his bid.
Original source can be found here.
Source: Brightspring Legacy Fund
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